"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is an English nursery rhyme, the earliest printed version of which dates from around 1744. The words have not changed very much in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody '' Ah! vous dirai-je, maman''.

Modern version

Dorothy-m-wheeler-baa-baa-black-sheep-1916

Modern versions tend to take the following form: The rhyme is a single stanza in

trochaic In English poetic metre and modern linguistics, a trochee () is a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. But in Latin and Ancient Greek poetic metre, a trochee is a heavy syllable followed by a light one (al ...

metre, which is common in nursery rhymes and relatively easy for younger children. The Roud Folk Song Index, which catalogues folk songs and their variations by number, classifies the song as 4439 and variations have been collected across Great Britain and North America.

Melody

The rhyme is usually sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody '' Ah! vous dirai-je, maman'', which is also used for "

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a popular English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early-19th-century English poem written by Jane Taylor, "The Star". The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in '' Rhymes for the Nursery ...

", "Little Polly Flinders", and "

Alphabet song The alphabet song is any of various songs used to teach children an alphabet. Alphabet songs typically recite the names of all letters of the alphabet of a given language in order. The ABC (Verse 1) "The ABC Song", otherwise referred to as ...

". The words and melody were first published together by A. H. Rosewig in ''(Illustrated National) Nursery Songs and Games'', published in Philadelphia in 1879. The text was translated to Swedish by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

for ''Barnen i skogen'' (1872), a Swedish edition of ''

Babes in the Wood Babes in the Wood is a traditional English children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents en ...

''. To this Swedish text a melody was written by

Alice Tegnér Alice Charlotta Tegnér (; 12 March 1864 – 26 May 1943; Sandström) was a Swedish music teacher, poet and composer. She is the foremost composer of Swedish children's songs during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. ...

and published in the songbook ''Sjung med oss, Mamma!'' (1892), where the black sheep is now a white lamb: ''Bä, bä, vita lamm'', one of the most popular Swedish children's songs.

Origins and meaning

As with many nursery rhymes, attempts have been made to find origins and meanings for the rhyme, most of which have no corroborating evidence. Katherine Elwes Thomas in ''The Real Personages of Mother Goose'' (1930) suggested the rhyme referred to resentment at the heavy taxation on wool.W. S. Baring-Gould and C. Baring Gould, ''The Annotated Mother Goose'' (Bramhall House, 1962), , p. 35. This has particularly been taken to refer to the medieval English "Great" or "Old Custom" wool tax of 1275, which survived until the fifteenth century More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, particularly in the southern United States."Ariadne"
''New Scientist'', 13 March 1986. This explanation was advanced during debates over political correctness and the use and reform of nursery rhymes in the 1980s, but has no supporting historical evidence. Rather than being negative, the wool of black sheep may have been prized as it could be made into dark cloth without dyeing. The rhyme was first printed in '' Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book'', the oldest surviving collection of English language nursery rhymes, published c. 1744 with the lyrics very similar to the contemporary version: In the next surviving printing, in ''

Mother Goose's Melody The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...

'' (c. 1765), the rhyme remained the same, except the last lines, which were given as, "But none for the little boy Who cries in the lane".

Modern controversies

A controversy emerged over changing the language of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in Britain from 1986, because, it was alleged in the popular press, it was seen as racially dubious. This was based only on a rewriting of the rhyme in one private nursery as an exercise for the children there and not on any local government policy. A similar controversy emerged in 1999 when reservations about the rhyme were submitted to Birmingham City Council by a working group on racism in children's resources, which were never approved or implemented. Two private nurseries in Oxfordshire in 2006 altered the song to "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep", with black being replaced with a variety of other adjectives, like "happy, sad, hopping" and "pink". Commentators have asserted that these controversies have been exaggerated or distorted by some elements of the press as part of a more general campaign against political correctness. In 2014, there was reportedly a similar controversy in the Australian state of Victoria.

Allusions

The phrase "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir" has been used to describe any obsequious or craven subordinate. It is attested from 1910, and originally was common in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. The rhyme has often been raised in literature and popular culture.

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

used the rhyme as the title of a semi-autobiographical short story he wrote in 1888. The name

Black Sheep Squadron ''Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (renamed ''Black Sheep Squadron'' for the second season) is an American television series that aired on NBC from September 23, 1976, until April 6, 1978. It was part historical drama, period military drama, part comedy. I ...

was used for the

Marine Attack Squadron 214 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 214 (VMFA-214) is a United States Marine Corps attack squadron consisting of Lockheed Martin F-35B STOVL jets. It is currently in the process of transitioning from its fleet of AV-8B Harrier ( V/STOL) jets. The s ...

of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

from 1942 and the title ''Baa Baa Black Sheep'' was used for a book by its leader Colonel

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 – January 11, 1988) was an American combat pilot who was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. A Marine aviator with ...

and for a TV series (later syndicated as

) that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from 1976 until 1978. In 1951, together with "

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition " Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by ...

", "Baa Baa Black Sheep" was the first song ever to be digitally saved and played on a computer.J. Fildes
"Oldest computer music unveiled"
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', retrieved 15 August 2012.

Notes